Now, I know that I'm awfully far removed from anything resembling teen culture these days, so I don't claim to have any insights into what they are or are not into or what they do and don't know about.

So maybe someone with more insight can help me out here.

Had anyone heard anything in these parts about the drug known as Bath Salts before the incident hit the news about some naked guy trying to eat another guys face in Florida?

There's an article in the Star today about some kid trying to find some to buy so he could sell it to his friends. By all accounts, he appears to be a complete idiot, but that's beside the point.

What I can't figure out is why there would be anyone out there who, having heard the stories about what this drug apparently does to you, is thinking "Hey! I want to try that!"

I mean... some kids think drugs are cool and don't grasp the impact they can have on the rest of their lives. Just a fun way to kill some time, I guess. But when something new comes out, and the only news of it is that it can turn you into a raving psychotic, do you really think THAT is the experience you're looking for??

Something interesting happened on the way to work this morning. Some folks had a little display set up to hand out samples of some new shampoo or something. It was a "men's scalp treatment" of some sort.

Before handing me the sample though, they said that it had some medicinal ingredients and thus they were required to get a "penny payment" for it. It would go to charity, they said.

Did I have any spare change?

So I didn't get the sample. The whole thing seemed suspiciously like complete bullshit though. Are they just making this stuff up? Does anyone know if there's any such regulation on the books that would make this reasonable, or did their marketing people just come up with this BS to make people think their product is something out of the ordinary?

If so, do they think people will respond well to being lied to?

I have a reason to question the validity of this. I've been given a lot of samples of a lot of different products while walking to work, and this is the first time this sort of scheme has ever been mentioned. If there were some rule about this, then shouldn't I have been asked for money for my Red Bull sample? It lists medicinal ingredients right on the can.

If that's a bit of a stretch, then what about the bottle of Motrin tablets I got last week? Am I being led to believe that this shampoo has more "medicinal ingredients" in it than ibuprofen pills?

City council has just voted to ban all plastic bags as of next year in Toronto. Who do they think they are?

What right does the municipal government have to decide whether or not a store can give us a bag? What makes them the environmental police?

Am I still going to get a bag to carry my food at Swiss Chalet? Are people going to die because they've been putting leaking bags of raw chicken pieces into reusable shopping bags and growing mounds of bacteria for the next time they go shopping?

What about plastic lids on disposable cups? What about plastic straws? Are those next? Will they be banning paper wrappers on sandwiches? What about the plastic bags they put flyers in before leaving them on my doorstep? Are those legal?

What about newspapers? Those get used for a day and then thrown out. Are those going to be banned?